MAL 



MAM 



sieu. Essential character : calyx five- 

 \.d, with melliferous pores on the 

 outside At the base; petals five, round- 

 ish, with claws ; berry one-celled, three- 

 seeded. There are eighteen species, of 

 which M. glabra, smooth-leaved Barba- 

 does cherry, usually grows to the height 

 of sixteen or eighteen feet; leaves oppo- 

 site, subsessile, acute, continuing all the 

 year ; flowers in axillary and terminating 

 bunches ; the pedicles have a single 

 joint : calyx incurved witii glands ; pe- 

 tals subcordate; stigmas simple, with a 

 little drop ; fruit red, round, the size of 

 a cherry. This tree grows plentifully in 

 most of the islands in the West Indies ; 

 whether it is natural there or not is diffi- 

 cult to determine, for birds being fond of 

 the fruit, they disperse the seeds every 

 where in great abundance. 



MALT, a term applied to grain which 

 has been made to germinate artificially to 

 a certain extent, after which the process 

 is stopped by the application of heat. 

 The barley is steeped in cold water for a 

 period not less than forty hours, by which 

 it increases in bulk and imbibes moisture, 

 while at the same time a quantity of car- 

 bonic acid gas is emitted, and a part of 

 the substance of the husk is dissolved. 

 The weight of the barley is increased in 

 the proportion of 147 to 100, and the 

 bulk is increased about one-fifth. When 

 it is sufficiently steeped, the water is 

 drained off, and the barley thrown out of 

 the cistern upon the malt floor, where it 

 is formed into a rectangular heap, called 

 the couch, sixteen inches deep. In this 

 state it remains about twenty-six hours. 

 It is then turned by means of wooden 

 shovels, and diminished a little in depth : 

 this operation is repeated twice or thrice 

 a day, and the grain is spread thinner and 

 thinner, till at last its depth does "not ex- 

 ceed a few inches. On the couch it ab- 

 sorbs oxygen from the atmosphere, which 

 it converts into carbonic acid ; the tempe- 

 rature gradually increases, and in about 

 four days the grain is ten degrees hotter 

 than the surrounding atmosphere. The 

 grain now becomes moist, and exhales an 

 agreeable odour ; this is called the sweat- 

 ing. A small portion of ah-ohol appears 

 to' be volatilized at this period of the 

 process. The chief business of the malt- 

 ster is to keep the temperature from be- 

 coming excessive, which is done by turn- 

 ing. The temperature may vary from 

 fifty-five' to sixty-two degrees. At the 

 period of sweating, the roots of the grains 

 begin to appear, which increase in length 

 till checked by turning the malt. In one 

 day after the sprouting of the roots, the 



rudiments of the future stem, called aero/- 

 spire by the maltster, may be seen to 

 lengthen, and it is now time to stop the 

 process. As the acrospire shoots along the 

 grain, the appearance of tne kernel, or 

 mealy pan of the corn, undergoes a con- 

 siderable change. The glutinous and 

 mucilaginous matter is taken up and re- 

 moved, the colour becomes white, and 

 the texture is so loose that it crumbles to 

 powder between the fingers. The ob- 

 ject of malting is to produce this change: 

 when it is accomplished, which takes 

 place as soon as the acrospire has come 

 nearly to the end of the seed, the pro- 

 cess is stopped by drying the malt upon 

 the kiln. The malt is then cleaned to 

 separate the small roots, which are con- 

 sidered as injurious. Barley by malting 

 generally increases two or three per 

 cent, in bulk, and loses about one-fifth of 

 its weight. 



MALTA, knights of. See KNIGHT. 



MALTHA, in chemistry, called also 

 sea-wax, is a solid substance found on the 

 Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is white, melts 

 when heated, and on cooling assumes the 

 consistence of white cerate. It readily 

 dissolves in alcohol, and in other respects 

 it possesses the characters of a solid vo- 

 latile oil. 



MALVA, in botany, mallo-w, a genus of 

 the Monadelphia Polyandria class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Columniferae. Mal- 

 vacex, Jussieu. Essential character : ca- 

 lyx double, outer three-leaved ; capsules 

 many, united in a depressed whorl, one- 

 celled, one-seeded. There are thirty- 

 four species, chiefly perennial herbace- 

 ous plants. 



MAMALUKES, the name of a dynasty 

 that reigned in Egypt. The Mamalukes 

 were originally Turkish and Circassian 

 slaves, bought of the Tartars by Melicsa- 

 leh, to the number of a thousand, whom 

 he bred up to arms, and raised some to 

 the principal offices of the empire. They 

 killed Sultan Moadam, whom they suc- 

 ceeded. 



Others say, that the Mamalukes were 

 ordinarily chosen from among the Chris, 

 tian slaves, and that they were the same 

 thing in a great measure with the Janissa- 

 ries among the Turks. They never mar- 

 ried; they first are said to have been 

 brought from Circassia, and some have 

 supposed that they began to reign about 

 the year 869. 



MAMMAE, the breasts, in anatomy. 

 See MAMMARY gland. 



MAMMALIA, in natural history, the 

 first class of animals in the Linnsean sys- 

 tem : the animals in this class have lungs 



